Devil's Lust
by H-FREAK
Summary: ON HIATUS Neville and Ginny begin to study a rare offbreed of Devil's Snare. Rated for themes and later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters represented in this story. They are the creative property of J.K. Rowling. I don't make any money from this. Etc. Etc. Etc.

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Devil's Lust

Ginny sat in a quiet corner of the Library chatting merrily with Neville. People were beginning to wonder if the two of them were an item; they had hardly been apart since the Yule Ball three weeks earlier. Neville was eagerly discussing some of the Herbology books he'd been reading.

"…and it's called Gillyweed. It's supposed to give you the ability to breathe underwater. I think that would be interesting." Neville was explaining to Ginny about this strange plant in one of his books.

"I suppose. But a lot of underwater creatures can be very dangerous."

"Yeah. I guess that is one thing to worry about. You could probably handle yourself, though. Your spell work is great."

"Oh, thanks." Ginny blushed. "But I don't think even my spells could keep away the giant squid." They both laughed somewhat awkwardly. "So what's that one?" She pointed to a picture in another open book on the table.

"Oh-that one's called Devil's Lust."

"Devil's Lust?"

"Yeah. It's a rare off-breed of Devil's Snare and it's-lustful…"

"How do you mean?"

"Well, Devil's Snare has all those tentacles that it uses to strangle it's victims. And this witch worked on it for quite a few years. The plant had to change over several life spans."

"And one witch did it all?" Ginny questioned.

"Yeah. Well, the life span of Devil's Snare is only a few years. The new plant was about half the size of the original Devil's Snare, but it still had loads of long tentacles. And it was also very lustful. It had a strong attraction to women. You see, it was created to be sort of a-well erm-a…"

"Dildo?" Ginny offered.

"Yeah," Neville blushed at the language. "Something like that."

"Wonder how come it never caught on," Ginny mused.

"Well, that seems to be what she was hoping for. She had lots of plans to market them."

"Why didn't she then?"

"Well, after she died, the Ministry decided the plants were too dangerous to reach the market."

"She died? How?"

"Well, to put it mildly, she was found naked and the plant was still-carrying on."

"The plant killed her? So it still had some of Devil's Snare left in it?"

"I don't think so. Like I said, the plant was still doing what it was supposed to do. There was no real evidence that the plant had strangled her or anything like that."

"What killed her then?"

"No one's really sure. Although it was during You-Know-Who's time, so it could easily have been a Death Eater. Testing the plant would have left her pretty defenseless to a murderer."

"I don't know about that," Ginny said. "If she'd been testing it, she would've been ready to defend in case it tried to strangle her. Where did they find her wand?"

"Lying on the desktop. There was no sign of a duel at all."

"I think she probably knew it was safe and was just _using_ it. And that really would leave her defenseless."

"I guess that makes sense. Wonder who killed her, though."

"Like you said, could've been anyone. You agree with me that the plant was probably safe?"

"Yes," Neville said slowly. "Why?"

"What did the Ministry do with the plant?"

"Plants," Neville corrected. "She had bred quite a few of them. The first on the scene were ministry witches and they couldn't get near without it trying to undress them. They got some wizards in who were able to remove the plant as easy as anything. You'd think they'd have realized then that the plants weren't a danger. They took the plants and planted them in nature. Obviously in place they wouldn't expect humans to go. They noted all the places for any Herbologists who wanted to study them, though. There are a few in the Forbidden Forest."

"Really?" Ginny's eyes widened. "Are there any in the greenhouses?"

"No. Why are you asking all this? You don't want one, do you?"

"I think it'd be interesting to study," Ginny said shiftily.

"You want to use it." Neville was regarding Ginny with disbelief and slight curiosity.

"Well, who wouldn't," Ginny became defensive. "I mean-it's a dil-"

"Shh!" Neville warned. Madame Pince was walking by, she seemed not to have noticed their guilty faces though as she continued moving throughout the Library. Ginny dropped her voice.

"It's a dildo that does all the work for you." Neville blushed again at how brazen Ginny was. This was one of the qualities he had come to admire in Ginny as they spent time together. "No wonder she wanted to market them. They'd be a perfect lover, wouldn't they?"

"I think that's what she was going for. They'd be perfect physically, I suppose. They wouldn't be an emotional lover. They couldn't give you kids either."

"You sound almost jealous."

"No I don't," said Neville jumpily.

"Yes you do. You're afraid I'm going to give up men and start shagging plants forever." Neville was very relieved that Ginny was laughing. "I know that being really fulfilled is more than just the pleasure of it all," she assured him. "But I'd still like to have a go at one of those plants."

"And they really would be interesting to study," Neville said fervently.

"Changing your tune now?"

"Well, it'd be interesting to see how the plant works."

"You mean it'd be interesting to watch me get off?" Ginny smiled at him. "Who knows? Maybe you won't need one of those plants to see that." Neville blushed more deeply than ever.

"Are you-" he stammered. "Are you saying-you want to-to…"

"Not yet. But maybe sometime. I like you, Neville; you're very charming. I'm pretty sure I'd eventually like to have sex with you, but I'd like us to get to know each other more before we make such an important decision."

"The Library is not the place to discuss such a decision, Miss Weasley." Madame Pince was back and very clearly displeased that students were talking about such things in her Library. "You will have such conversations in more private places in the future." She was closing there books for them and sent them out of the Library.

"Shame," said Neville. "Where should we go to now?"

"I don't know. It's not near enough to dinner time yet. I guess back toward Gryffindor Tower." They began moving along the familiar pathways. "So, do you think it'd be possible to get one of those plants from the Forest?"

"Theoretically, I guess. The plant itself won't do anything if a man retrieves it. It'd take a lot of work, though. You'd have to know where it is and know the Forest well enough to get to it. We don't really know anyone who spends a lot of time exploring the forest."

"Are you serious, Neville? I can think of plenty of people. Hagrid, for one; he's in and out of the Forest all the time. Then there's Harry, Ron and Hermione; they've been into the Forest loads of times. Also Fred and George, they're always in trouble with Filch for going in there."

"Why do they go in there?"

"Before this past summer, I would have said they did it just for fun. After our Mum found all their order forms and stuff, I'd say they go in there to work. They might know loads of things about the Forest."

"Yeah, but I don't think you want your brothers finding out what you're up to."

"Too true. I'll try and think of a way to ask them questions."

"Or you could go ask any of those other people."

"Yeah." They both sighed as they pondered on these things and made their way back to Gryffindor Tower.


	2. Chapter 2

Devil's Lust

"Harry?" Ginny said timidly over breakfast one morning. She had been waiting nearly a week for Harry to come down early so she could get him on his own.

"Yes?" he offered as he piled some pancakes onto his plate.

"Neville and I have been working on a kind of Herbology project and we were wondering if you'd be able to help us a bit."

"I'm not sure how I'd be able to help. I'm not exactly incredible in Herbology."

"Well, there's a plant that grows in the Forest. We were hoping you might be able to help us find it. Or at least tell us if you've seen it," Ginny added as Harry sighed. "I know you're busy with the Tournament and everything, but we'd really appreciate the help."

"I'll do what I can," Harry said finally. "I'm not promising that will be a lot though." He started in on his pancakes as they discussed it further. "So, this plant, what does it look like?"

"Well, it looks a lot like Devil's Snare. The main difference being that it won't strangle you. It's also a bit smaller than Devil's Snare, from what I understand."

"I've definitely never seen anything like that in the Forest. You're sure it grows there?"

"Yes, but not very much, I think. It's probably very deep in."

"So, you want me to help you look for it?"

"I-don't want to be a bother. Only if you can."

"Well, maybe some night I'll get Ron and Hermione and we'll go down with you and Neville and look around."

"Oh, no. Don't tell Ron and Hermione about it. At least not yet. Neville and I want to keep it a secret for now."

"Why?" Harry frowned slightly.

"We just do. Just for now please."

"All right then." Ginny was thankful that Harry was too preoccupied with his own problems to worry about why Ginny was keeping secrets. "Maybe I'll try to ask Hagrid if he's seen that plant anywhere; he might know."

"No. I'll talk to Hagrid," Ginny said quickly. Harry raised an eyebrow at this, but decided not to pursue it further.

"Okay then."

"Thanks Harry," she said cheerily and left without having touched her food.

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"Well?" Neville asked as Ginny arrived in their corner of the Library.

"He's never seen it," Ginny informed him. "But he's said he might be able to help us look for it some night."

"That's good then. I wouldn't do well in the Forest on my own."

"I still think we should try and find out where it is before we go into the Forest."

"So who do you want to ask next then?"

"I've been thinking a lot about that. Well, Hermione and Ron have only been to the same parts of the Forest as Harry."

"So they wouldn't have seen it either."

"Then there's Hagrid, but I don't think it would be safe to ask him. He probably helped Dumbledore move it to the Forest in the first place. Which means he knows exactly where it is, but he'll also know exactly what it is."

"So Fred and George then?"

"Seems so."

"You think they'll figure out what you're up to?"

"I hope not."

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"You know, a lot of that joke shop stuff's pretty amazing," Ginny told her brothers as they were browsing Zonko's. "You guys are a lot smarter than you let on."

"Well, thanks for that." Fred grinned.

"Yeah. Considering we don't let on much at all, I'm not sure if that's a compliment." But George was smiling too.

"You guys must be pretty well-rounded in a lot of subjects. Potions, Charms, Herbology."

"We know a fair bit," George admitted.

"Where do you get all of your supplies though?"

"Well," Fred began. "We get some things from the student store cupboards."

"We've nicked a few things from Snape's cupboards."

"We've also tried to establish a few suppliers in Hogsmeade."

"But we get the majority of our stuff from the Forest."

"Oh?" Ginny grinned inwardly as her guess was confirmed.

"Yeah," said Fred. "There's loads of stuff in there that you can't find anywhere."

"Really? Like what?"

"Well, lots of rare plants and stuff."

"Where do you think they get the things for the Greenhouses?" George said.

"And we get on pretty well with most of the creatures in there. So we've been able to get them to help us out."

"Hair, eggs, blood, loads of stuff."

"Wow," Ginny sighed. "Neville and I have been talking a lot about Herbology lately. Seen any interesting plants in there?"

"Oh, plenty of them," George enthused. "There's one that looks just like a rose bush, but each of the roses has like a mouth with sharp teeth in it."

"Yeah," Fred said. "And one that's like a bright orange tomato plant."

"That one makes you pass out straight away if you eat it."

"Then there was one that looked almost exactly like Devil's Snare." Ginny fought hard to keep her expression calm.

"Only it doesn't do anything at all."

"We've been thinking of collecting a cutting of it to study though."

"Wow," Ginny said again. "It must be really exciting to see all that stuff firsthand."

"I suppose so," said George offhandedly.

"Is our baby sister thinking of exploring the Forest for herself?" Fred asked.

"I've thought about it," Ginny said unfalteringly.

"Is that right?" George said with a half-glance at his twin.

"Well, we would recommend you take an experienced witch or wizard with you if you do."

"Someone who knows their way around a bit."

"And-" Fred looked to George, who nodded. "This would probably come in useful." Fred extracted a piece of parchment from within his cloak.

"What's that?" Ginny asked.

"That," said George, "is quite possibly one of our greatest inventions, little sister."

"We had a little help with the basic design," Fred explained.

"But we've added our own modifications."

"Allow us to show you how it works." Fred tapped the parchment with his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Ginny's jaw dropped as the ink stretched all over the paper, showing a map of Hogwarts. At the top were the names of the authors, Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.

"That's incredible," Ginny said.

"That's only the beginning," George informed her. "We didn't actually write that one."

"Show me The Burrow." Fred gave it another top. Hogwarts was erased and a map of the Burrow appeared in its place. Mrs. Weasley was bustling about the living room.

"Show me Hogsmeade." George tapped the map. Now it showed Hogsmeade on its face. Ginny saw herself, Fred and George in Zonko's. Harry, Ron and Hermione were heading back toward the castle.

"Show me The Forest." Fred tapped it yet again. A heard of Centaurs was on the move; Aragog was nestled quietly as his children moved about; even Mr. Weasley's car was shown trundling about here and there.

"Blimey," Ginny said finally. She looked closer to see some of the places the twins had marked. She was thrilled to see that they had marked each of the plants they had mentioned. Far in the Forest, beyond the place where the Centaurs were roaming was marked "_Devil's Snare?_" It wouldn't be easy to reach, but at least it wasn't very far off the beaten path.

"You'd actually let me borrow this?" Ginny asked her brothers in disbelief.

"Not exactly," Fred said slowly.

"Fred and I have worked out a useful spell though," George said. Fred held his wand to the parchment.

"_Germinio!_" The parchment seemed to thicken and then split into two copies. "There you are then." Fred held out the new copy to Ginny.

"Now you can see all those places too."

"But unless you wan work a Protean Charm, you won't be able to see any new ones George or myself might add."

"If you're planning to go ferreting around some new place, though, you can check with us first."

"Wow." Ginny was amazed at her brothers' skill in crafting the map and at their generosity in sharing it with her. "Thank you," she finally managed.

"Think nothing of it," Fred said pompously with a wave of his hand.

"We can tell you're learning the right family values from our example," George added with a wink.

"Just put that to good use, eh?"

"I will," Ginny assured them with a broad grin. "I definitely will."


End file.
